Character Creation Challenge 2023: This Year's Models

Image courtesy of TardisCaptain's Blog of Holding

 One of the salient lessons I learned from last year's challenge was that 31 unfamiliar games in 31 days was not really sustainable. I managed it then--more or less--but do not care to repeat that particular experience. At least not until I'm retired.

So what's going to be different this year? Fewer game systems. More old friends. Here and there I'll do a whole party for one game (posted on consecutive days, of course). And instead of working up the entire list before January 1st I'm going to play a lot by ear. I do have some unfinished business from last year, so expect to see Lashings of Ginger Beer, Warhammer FRP 3e, Basic Action Superheroes, Alma Mater, and Encounter Critical represented this time around. (OK, so perhaps I haven't learned as much from last year as I claimed.) I didn't do any PbtA games last year, so I might dip into that well too, since I've got a few of them lying around.

 I'd also like to try taking one of my favorite D&D (4e) characters and remodeling her in some other systems. Beyond that, I'm not sure what I'll be doing. Don't be surprised to see some Teenagers from Outer Space characters show up; they're easy and fun. Or Creeks and Crawdads; last year's character was a victim of unfortunate die rolls, and I wouldn't mind another bite at that particular apple. Point is, this year I plan to focus on fun and keep the goal-oriented aspects of the challenge within manageable limits.

Current Characters: Flight Lt. Lucia "Starburst" Delanova (Cypher System, SF campaign)

generated on HeroForge

This character basically started with me misunderstanding the campaign premise. I knew we were playing Cypher System, which implied that we'd have access to some sort of extraordinary powers, and I knew it was going to be science fiction of some sort, with the PCs playing members of an exploration-ship crew. But at first I didn't read the tone correctly at all.

I kind of ran with the powers thing and found inspiration in the Princesses of Adventure Time. There were lots of great characters to draw from: Bubblegum, Marceline, Lumpy Space Princess, and so on, but I eventually settled on Flame Princess as my starting point. It can be fun to play an impulsive hothead (perhaps less so for the rest of the party, I admit), and it provided an obvious hook for powers. I gave her the very Adventure Time-y name "Princess Starburst" and assembled the description "an impulsive warrior who blazes with radiance." (We'll get into how this description is assembled below when we look at the mechanics.) So far, so good.

And then, as our Discord-chat Session Zero continued, it dawned on me that we were supposed to be much closer to the ground (with "the ground" being baseline realistic humans) than I had originally assumed. I'd been thinking a slightly more cartoony Guardians of the Galaxy; our GM was thinking something more like Stargate SG-1. Instead of junking my original concept completely, I decided I'd rather adapt it to the circumstances of the game. Cypher System characters tend to start out with fairly minor powers and scale up with experience; the impressive-sounding "Blazes With Radiance" focus begins with just enhanced vision and the equivalent of being able to cast a D&D 5e light spell. I figured cybernetic implants could handle that without toxic levels of handwavium, and new powers could be justified by upgraded hardware and whatever interventions the GM thought he needed to make it work in-setting. 

I probably could have kept her a princess--human space has room for a lot of different planetary governments--but I thought it would be more interesting to scale that back too and make her a spoiled, not-quite-delinquent rich kid whose parents sent her to a military academy as a socially acceptable substitute for reform school. As the players sorted out party roles, I jumped for the pilot's seat as the stereotypical job for an impulsive hothead, a wannabe fighter pilot trapped by her own indiscipline and bad attitude into flying space taxis (upgraded to more of a space Land Rover for the campaign, but the point still holds). That called for a new name, though, and I was kind of attached to "Starburst." Fortunately, nicknames and callsigns are things, and "Starburst" became my pilot's callsign. For her proper name, I followed the theme: a family name that began as "de la Nova" and eventually ran together as "Delanova," then the personal name "Lucia," and then as I filled in her background it eventually grew to "Maria Lucia Usha Delanova-Devi," youngest child of twelfth-generation vintner Lorenzo Delanova and his husband Arvind Devi; reluctant graduate of La Scuola di Sforza and less reluctant graduate of Fleet Academy; good enough to be commissioned a pilot but not quite good enough (or nearly disciplined enough) to fly the starfighters that dazzle her imagination.

So let's take a look at the mechanics behind FLTLT Delanova. A Cypher character is built from three parts: a descriptor, a type, and a focus. Each provides a set of mechanical widgets that (with a little customization) come together to form a player character.

Usually one begins with the Type, which corresponds roughly to character class in other class-and-level games. It's an organizing principle for your skill set and helps determine your role in the group of PCs, and it's the anchoring noun in your defining statement "I am an adjective noun who verbs." The game provides four Types for your consideration: the combat-focused Warrior, the skills-focused Explorer, the powers-focused Adept, and the socially-focused Speaker. Optionally, these can be fine-tuned with Flavors that let you dip into another specialization or go deep on your chosen skill set. As a wannabe fighter jockey with military training, I use Warrior as my base and add Technology flavoring to ensure I've got decent vehicle skills. 

So what do those choices give me? Your Type determines your starting Stat Pools, which are three reserves of points that you can spend to boost various types of thing-doing rolls. Your Might pool applies to tests of physical strength, endurance, and hardiness; your Speed pool to tests of reflexes, dexterity, or movement; and your Intellect pool to tests of cognition, willpower, knowledge, or other mental capabilities. A Warrior starts with 10 each in Might and Speed, 8 in Intellect, and six more to divide among the three pools; I divide them evenly for a 12-12-10 spread. In addition, for each Pool you have an Edge score--a discount on boosts (or Effort, to use the game term), which usually begins at 1 for a chosen Pool and 0 for the others. The Warrior can choose between Speed and Might for that initial point of Edge; I opt for Might here because (as noted below) I know I'll also get an opportunity to raise my Speed Edge later. 

Now I choose some Special Abilities from the Warrior options. I get four from a shortlist of 11 and choose Combat Prowess (melee) as a character who gets in more than her share of bar fights, Improved Edge (Speed), and Trained Without Armor (which gives me a level of Speed Defense) as a pilot who's used to functioning in lighter combat gear. That leaves one opening, which I leave for a choice from my Flavor options. Type also governs starting equipment, but I'll get back to that after I'm done with stats and abilities.

A Flavor choice simply expands your list of Special Ability options; I use my remaining slot on Tech Skills from the Technology list, which requires me to select two specialties. Piloting and vehicle driving are separate choices, so my path is clear, and I'll be the crew's all-purpose wheelwoman.

The next decision point is your Descriptor, the adjective in your defining statement. "Impulsive" is right there on the list, so no need to seek out a close match from several maybe options. I get two more points for my Speed Pool and a couple of Skills as well as an Inability. The skill trainings (each of which adds a level of success to appropriate thing-doing rolls) are in Initiative and a second level of Speed Defense, which means I'm more likely to act before other characters and I'm better at dodging attacks. The Inability is a lack of patience that penalizes any attempts to do something that requires discipline or willpower.

The third element, the verb element, is called a Focus, and mechanically it provides Special Abilities or skills. I found myself weighing "Bears a Halo of Fire" against "Blazes with Radiance;" the rules allow for custom Foci, but it seemed to me one of these would do what I wanted. The fire powers struck me as a little too much for what the campaign was about, also kind of dangerous in the enclosed environment of a small transport ship, so I opted for Blazes with Radiance. As I mentioned before, the entry-level powers for Blazes with Radiance are a form of enhanced vision called "Enlightened" and the ability to charge up small items so that they shed light ("Illuminating Touch"). Both potentially handy, but not super flashy, although there'll be more impressive stuff as I level up.

As a character in military service, Starburst gets to choose from a fairly narrow assortment of assigned gear. I forgo armor because of my speed defense, but I'll want to have some weapons when things get ugly planetside (or inside the ship, too, I guess). I take a standard issue pistol and combat knife and add a stun baton as a personal favorite. We each get a personal communicator, and I add a pair of aviator sunglasses to my everyday tank top/flight jacket/BDU pants/boots ensemble. I have open slots for four more inexpensive items that I'll probably choose as the campaign unfolds.

In addition, as part of the character's background we are supposed to establish existing connections with three other characters in the group. 

As of this post I've played the character in about 10-11 sessions and earned a couple of advancements. (Though not as many as I'd like, because XP can be spent for rerolls and I've had some bad dice luck in this campaign.) There are five types of character advancement in Cypher System, and in order to advance to the next level (or Tier) you must take one each of four different types. You can add points to your Stat Pools, raise one of your Edge scores, raise your Effort rating (which caps the number of Stat points you can spend on boosting any given roll), add or improve a skill training, or take another bonus such as adding an appropriate Special Ability or receiving a bonus on recovery rolls. So far I've added four points to my Stat Pools (two each to Speed and Intellect) and added Repair (Starships) to my skill list. 

In addition, I've picked up a Cypher (a piece of advanced technology) for future use (a quantity of antigravity varnish suitable for treating a medium-sized object), and the entire party was exposed to rift energy (a phenomenon particular to this setting), thereby acquiring extraordinary abilities beyond those granted by our Foci. (Starburst's energy type is Elemental, and it allows her to resist elemental-type attacks as well as add elemental riders to her own attacks. There's a separate (homebrew) experience track for improving one's rift powers.)

OK, so let's see a statblock:

Flight Lieutenant Maria Lucia Usha Delanova-Devi, FSAF (Federated Systems Alliance Fleet), is an Impulsive Technology Warrior who Blazes with Radiance

Tier: 1     Max Effort: 1   XP: 1 (9 spent on improvements)

Might Pool/Edge: 12/1     Speed Pool/Edge: 16/1     Intellect Pool/Edge: 12/0

Cypher Capacity: 2

Cyphers on Hand (1): level 3 levitation unguent

Special Abilities: Combat Prowess (melee), Improved Edge (Speed), Trained Without Armor, Tech Skills (piloting and driving), Enlightened (trained in sight perception), Illuminating Touch

Extra Special Abilities: Imbued with Elemental Rift Energy

    Resistance to elemental damage

    Asset* to overcome elemental attacks

    Power enhancement to attacks (option of fire, water, earth, or air)

Inability: Hindered in tasks requiring patience, willpower, or discipline

Specialized Skills (Speed): Speed Defense

Trained Skills (Speed): Initiative, Driving, Piloting, Repairing Starships

Trained Skills (Intellect): Perception (sight)

Equpiment: BDUs, flight jacket, medium blaster pistol, military knife, stun baton, aviator sunglasses, personal communicator

*In Cypher, an "asset" is a skill, power, item, or circumstance that can improve a roll result by one level, from a base level equaling d20 roll/3. So a single Asset can improve a roll of 10 from a level-3 result to a level-4 result, and a second Asset would boost that to a level-5 result (the equivalent of rolling 15-17 on the die).

The Plays of Aphra Marlowe: A Taste of Evermead

 

A Taste of Evermead 

Very much a departure from Marlowe’s usual work, this bittersweet, semi-autobiographical drama explores the challenges of growing up between two worlds, elven and human. It’s a theme that many other artists have tackled in the past, but rarely from as personal a perspective as this. Marlowe’s willingness to let her own heartache bleed into the script gives her always-sharp dialogue a depth and a resonance never seen in her romantic comedies or political thrillers.  Its success was probably doomed by the choice of a theater in the rough-and-tumble northeast of Baldur's Gate as its first venue. Without the slapstick and bawdiness that audiences in that neighborhood demanded from their entertainment, A Taste of Evermead died slowly, after a week and a half, under a barrage of rotten fruit and catcalls. There remains hope, however, that a new production might be mounted in more suitable climes, for the play's obvious personal significance might well help it survive its author's notoriously short attention span. 

The Plays of Aphra Marlowe: Purple Reign

 

Purple Reign: A Patriotic Spectacle

This foray into the revue genre showcases Marlowe’s signature witty dialogue and clever songwriting—exceedingly clever, as it turns out, for the city magistrates of Suzail suppressed Purple Reign after only two performances. Though Marlowe had been careful not to promote the show as satire, word of its subtle barbs at the Cormyrean government spread quickly to the wrong ears. A timely warning allowed the playwright to flee the capital just ahead of the Purple Dragons, and the ministerial wrath burned out almost as quickly as it had ignited. 

The Plays of Aphra Marlowe: Szassy!

 

 

Szassy! A Musical of Thay

In a career marked by startling lapses of judgement, the attempt to stage a musical satire of one of Faerun’s most reviled despots in the capital of its most-threatened neighbor nonetheless stands out. If one ignores the context, Szassy! has a lot to offer: catchy, clever songs; perceptive caricatures of the politically significant; and enough well-crafted jokes to burst a Bag of Holding. All of which, one hastens to say, are wasted in making light of atrocity. If the Aglarondan authorities did not act to suppress the production, it is only because the citizens of the capital beat them to it. Loud protests and an attempt to burn down the theater dropped the curtain on Szassy! right after its premiere.

The Plays of Aphra Marlowe: Too Sune?

 

 

Too Sune? A Comedy of Mourning ... and Evenings

Elturgard is one of the last places anyone would think to produce a sex comedy, and so of course Elturel’s Skylight Theater was the opening venue Marlowe chose for her merry-widow farce Too Sune? The heroine’s attempts to juggle her lovers and her bereaved in-laws as she arranges her husband’s funeral reveal Marlowe as a master of double entendre and perfectly timed entrances, and it is a great pity that the paladins of Torm not only shut down the production but burned the script in the public square.

 

The Plays of Aphra Marlowe: Grassy Gnoll

 

 

Grassy Gnoll: A Political Thriller

Buoyed by the success (and the income) from the "Castaways" plays, Marlowe next embarked upon this rather convoluted and abstract work, which treats the assassination of a conquering general as a vehicle to explore the limits and workings of political power. It also—apparently inadvertently—revealed more about the Cormyrean security services than the Crown considered safe. After the production was shut down, Marlowe was held without charge for several days and then quietly released. No further information about the incident is available, and the script of Grassy Gnoll was subjected to considerable editing, with several details altered before the distribution of copies was permitted.

 

The Plays of Aphra Marlowe: The Castaways series

 

The Castaways marks the beginning of Marlowe’s commercially successful experiment with short-form comedies featuring a recurring cast of characters. In the “Castaways” series, these are a group of social archetypes (or stereotypes, to the less charitable critic) stranded on a desert island and forced to build a functioning society-in-miniature to sustain themselves until help may arrive. 

 

 

In the early installments, Marlowe wrings great comic effect from this close-quarters class conflict; however, every well eventually runs dry, and increasingly she resorts to gimmicks such as “celebrities” (thinly disguised for legal reasons) becoming temporarily stranded with her regular cast. The last of these is a strained caricature of the adventurer Drizzt Do’Urden, whom a belatedly self-aware Marlowe uses to deliver the message “quit while you’re ahead.”

 

The Plays of Aphra Marlowe: The Devil You Know

 

 The Devil You Know: A Comedy of Bad Decisions

The poor choices of desperate people have always been a fertile ground for comedy as well as for tragedy. The Devil You Know gives us Nanton Vellay, a merchant with political ambitions and considerable liabilities who signs conflicting bargains with two separate fiends in order to eliminate both his debts and the rival who is blackmailing him.  In nearly any city the play should have been a great success, but in Neverwinter the story—and some of the names—called unwanted attention to a cult of Asmodeus that had infiltrated the town's government and business elite. In the early hours of a Sunday morning after the second evening show, the Hot Spring Theater mysteriously burned to the ground, and Marlowe claims to have barely averted several attempts on her life before making her way south to the relative safety of Waterdeep.